Parish Priests Embrace New Roles

Students at St. Peter Prince of the Apostles School are used to seeing priests at weekly Mass on Fridays. However, beginning this August, middle school students will benefit from receiving daily interaction and instruction from the parish priests in their religion classes each day. Father Martin Leopold and Father Agustin Estrada will be adding the title of classroom teacher to their resumes, as they will be teaching the religion classes to grades 5 through 8 for the coming year.

Father Leopold has earned a Bachelor of Philosophy from Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, a Master of Divinity from the Oblate School of Theology, and a License in Canon Law (JCL) from The Catholic University of America. Regarding entering the classroom as a middle school teacher for the first time, Father Leopold said, “I look forward to making the content of our faith relevant in the lives of our students. It will be a great blessing to get more involved with the daily life of our school.”

As of this summer, Father Estrada serves as parochial vicar of St. Peter Prince of Apostles Parish. He earned a degree in Religious Studies from the University of Navarra in Pamplona, Spain and has been serving as a priest in the Archdiocese of San Antonio since 2006. Reflecting on the importance of Catholic education, Father Estrada said, “The Catholic education of children and young people is important because it ensures the transmission of faith. In other words: just as we receive from our parents the treasure of our Catholic faith, today’s children will transmit it to their children and so on. It is the wonderful chain, which until now has not been broken, of Christian faith and tradition.”

As fewer religious occupy teaching roles in Catholic and parochial schools these days, the students at St. Peter’s will have a very special and unique opportunity to dialogue with and learn from their own parish priests.